Trial ordered in MySpace kidnap-rape case

VISTA – Three men will stand trial for allegedly kidnapping and raping an 18-year-old woman one of them met on MySpace, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Vincent Barnett Jr., 22, Robert Melgoza, 21, and Brian Shippee, 21, will be arraigned May 19. They have pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated kidnapping for purposes of rape, forcible rape, and sodomy.

If convicted of the kidnapping charge, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Barnett's attorney, David Rawson, argued that the woman told investigators that Barnett wasn't driving the SUV used to pick up the girl, and didn't have sex with her.

“There's no evidence that he did anything in this case other than be present,” Rawson said.

Prosecutor Dan Rodriguez said Shippee told investigators that Barnett had oral sex with the woman. Rodriguez said that Barnett also took photos and acted as a lookout.

Authorities say the woman went to Palomar College to chat online after she got into an argument with her family May 13, 2008. She encountered Barnett, who she didn't know, and he invited her to a party.

Authorities say the group went to a liquor store, drank at an industrial park, and went to a trailer on the San Marcos property of Shippee's neighbor, where the woman began blacking out.

Detective Kim Houry said Shippee told investigators he started having sex with the woman in the trailer. Shippee said she vomited in the trailer and seemed “woozy” later in a sport-utility vehicle, Houry said, but he said he didn't think she was unconscious.

Houry testified DNA wasn't found in the trailer, which appeared to have been cleaned, or the SUV. Houry said the men sexually assaulted the woman in the trailer and the SUV, took her to an industrial park in Vista, continued the attack, and left her there.